Myrtle Reservoir park meeting: Toplines and handouts
More than two hours of lively discussion later, we’re back from the Myrtle Reservoir park meeting. The potential “skatespot” in the new park is now proposed as a 10,000-square-foot (less than a 10th of the park’s size) facility in the northeast corner (at 35th/Willow) — but there’s no money for it in the Myrtle park budget, so if the Parks Department ultimately decides to go ahead with it, they’re going to have to figure out how to pay for it (some of the youngest skatepark supporters at the meeting suggested a fundraising campaign). While we work on our full report, we’ll be posting links to the park-design options (and other documents shortly), since Parks Department project manager Virginia Hassinger was kind enough to send us advance copies late today and told the crowd we’d have them up soon. ADDED 9:45 PM: OK, here are PDFs of the four items from the Parks Department, representing the drawings shown at tonight’s meeting. We will show the design alternatives inline in our writeup in the morning but since this is a big park space, these links are the best way to take a closer look (plus you can zoom in on PDFs if you want): Park Concept Alternative A here, Park Concept Alternative B here, Park Design Issues here, Park Site Conditions here. (Note that Alternatives A and B are not “either-or” — just two possibilities, and the final product could have features of both, and/or features not seen in either.) Next steps, discussion details, and more, coming up in the full report.
Happening tomorrow: Myrtle Reservoir park meeting
Last week, for the first time in almost a year, the Parks Department came to West Seattle for a meeting about the future Morgan Junction park (WSB coverage here and here). Tomorrow, after a similar time gap, the same thing’s happening regarding the park going in at Myrtle Reservoir (map). This park is different for several reasons, including its location in a less-commercial area, its size, and the fact a skatespot is in the plan, which drew some controversy last year. Matt Johnston, the West Seattle resident who runs SeattleSkateParks.org, writes about it today. Whatever you would or wouldn’t like to see in this park, tomorrow night (7 pm, High Point Community Center) is your best chance to make a difference. You can find notes from the March 2007 meeting linked from the project’s official city webpage.
Toplines from Morgan Junction park meeting
From tonight’s meeting at The Kenney to get the status of the park to be built at the site above, former monorail property north of the new Beveridge Place Pub: More than 40 people; more than two hours; three proposed design options, discussed in small breakaway groups. No name yet; the Parks Department says it’s holding off till the design is firmed up. The proposed designs were presented under the names “pianoforte,” “terrazze,” and “affodante.” Major differences include how much grass, what kind of seating, etc. Parks is supposed to send us digital files tomorrow so we can show them to you here. Next step – feedback from tonight’s meeting, e-mail, etc., will be taken under advisement as a final proposed design is developed next month, and then it will be presented at another public meeting, expected in March; construction would start this fall.
Video feature: Pigeon Point Park needs you tomorrow
Have you ever been to Pigeon Point Park? The trail we walked in the video clip above is just a small part of this hidden treasure next to Cooper Elementary School in northeast West Seattle. Tomorrow, it’s one of the places on the WS “east side” that will get special attention during Green Delridge Day — plenty of time for you to participate before settling in for the Seahawks game. The Pigeon Point Park event is the first-ever work party there for the Nature Consortium, whose restoration-project staffers Mark Tomkiewicz and Elizabeth McDonald gave us a mini-tour (much of which we videotaped):Read More
Also from the city: Official park-meeting announcements
All sorts of West Seattle stuff on the city’s press-release site today. We first told you last Friday (with a lively discussion erupting afterward, of course) about the public meetings coming up later this month for the future parks at Morgan Junction and Myrtle Street Reservoir; the official city press releases are out today (Morgan Junction 1/15 meeting here, Myrtle 1/22 meeting here) so we’re mentioning them again in case you missed the news during the holiday crunch.
2 public meetings set for West Seattle parks-to-be
The Seattle Parks Department has just set two public meetings in West Seattle next month for two parks-in-progress, the one on the former Fauntleroy Auto/monorail-station site north of the new Beveridge Place Pub, and the one next to the Myrtle Street Reservoir. According to the Parks Department’s announcement, both projects have just entered the design phase. First, the Morgan Junction meeting will be at 7 pm January 15 at The Kenney; from the announcement forwarded by Board of Park Commissioners vice chair (and Alki Community Council president) Jackie Ramels:
Project objective: Develop the recently-acquired property on California Ave SW north of Beveridge Place into a park or plaza. At this meeting, the community will have the opportunity to review preliminary site plans and to provide feedback to the design team. Landscape architects Hough Bec & Baird (HBB) started design work for the site in Dec 2007 and are currently preparing conceptual site designs based on themes the community expressed in spring 2007. The themes to be explored include the creation of a gathering space or plaza for the community and family activities that will feature hardscape, natural vegetation edges, seating, and a shelter structure.
The meeting about the Myrtle park will be at 7 pm January 22 at High Point Community Center. From the Parks Department announcement:
The site will be converted to usable open space for family-oriented activities once the reservoir is lidded. At this meeting, the community will have the opportunity to review preliminary site plans and to provide feedback to the design team. Landscape architects Nakano Associates started design work for the site in December 2007. They are currently preparing conceptual site designs based on themes the community expressed in spring 2007. These themes include a desire to emphasize the site as a viewpoint and to maximize greenspace. The community has also expressed both interest and concern about potentially locating a skateboard facility on the site, which was identified as a potential skatepark site in the Citywide Skatepark Plan. Other site features to be considered include ADA-accessible pathways, play equipment, and general landscaping.
Both of these parks-in-progress have been the subject of public meetings before, but the last ones were more than a few months ago, so these will be opportunities for new information and input on these parks’ creation. We’re adding both meetings to the WSB Events page, so you can find them later.
Coyote alert: Lincoln Park
Ted sent this to WSB last weekend and we missed the chance to post it then, but he advises us he’s still hearing the howls, so it’s not too late to issue the alert. Not to evoke anti-coyote hysteria – just a reminder to be careful:
Just wanted to let you know – saw a brazen Coyote in Lincoln Park during the day on Sat. We had our dog on a leash but another couple that was approx 100 ft away from us did not. No sooner did we pass the couple but we saw what appeared to be a very alert and scoping Coyote. I am thinking he may have been checking out the little lap dog the couple had off-leash. We were on an interior trail – near the chin-up bars. Please keep the parks (and coyotes) safe – keep your dogs on a leash !!
Happening tonight: 2 meetings on multi-million-$ projects
DENNY-SEALTH UPDATE: It’s been a few months since the last general update on what’s going on with this fast-track Seattle Public Schools project to consolidate the neighboring middle and high schools on one campus. Tonight, the Westwood Neighborhood Council sponsors a gathering to get out the latest info. Read more here, including the meeting agenda. It all starts at 7:30 pm @ Southwest Community Center.
HIAWATHA PLAYFIELD IMPROVEMENTS: The city will present details on improvements to the field, iighting, and more that have been years in the making; read more here. This meeting happens at 6:30 tonight @ Hiawatha Community Center. (Got the reminder about this last night at the monthly meeting of the Admiral Neighborhood Association, where the main topic was the California/Hanford/Hinds upzone proposal; our full writeup on that is coming up a little later this morning.)
It’s official: Ercolini Park will be … Ercolini Park
The suspense is over; the city Parks Department has made its decision. David Cagen from Friends of Ercolini Park just forwarded the park-naming announcement from interim parks superintendent Christopher Williams:
After receiving overwhelming support from the community, I have decided to name the park site located at 48th Avenue SW and SW Alaska Street, Ercolini Park. This name will recognize the longtime ownership of this site by the Ercolini family and their willingness to sell this property to the City for a public space.
I look forward to joining you for the opening of the new Ercolini Park in early 2008.
More parks news coming up in an hour or so – this just came in so we wanted to publish it fast! 3:30 PM ADDENDUM: Friends of Ercolini Park chair Katie Hjorten wrote to the FoEP group (and gave us permission to republish):
I called Jim Ercolini to let him know and he couldn’t have been more pleased. He told me that he was the last descendant with that last name both here and in Italy. He said his parents would be so proud and pleased since they were share croppers in Italy. It was their life’s dream to own land. Now it will bear their name in perpetuity. He thanks all of us for our work on this project.
Parks plan, West Seattle meeting #1: Surprisingly interactive
We went to tonight’s Southwest Community Center meeting for the Parks Department’s future Strategic Business Plan not realizing it would be an interactive format – listen to organizers for a few minutes, then break into groups and discuss ideas and opinions for most of the rest of the time. What resulted was a public meeting that really felt like a public meeting – with the emphasis on “public.” This was the first of six of these meetings happening in West Seattle over the course of the next week (full list here, continuing with High Point Community Center @ 7 pm tomorrow), and if you care about the future of our city parks, we strongly urge you to make time to participate in one of them. Here’s what we experienced tonight – including a high-level observer:Read More
2 important events in West Seattle today & tonight
SENATOR HERE THIS MORNING: U.S. Senator Patty Murray and a long list of business and education leaders will be in West Seattle this morning, in Olympic Hall at South Seattle Community College, for a field hearing of Murray’s Senate Subcommittee on Employment and Workplace Safety.
FIRST STOP IN THE CITY PARKS HEARING TOUR TONIGHT: As we reported earlier this month, the city Parks Department is touring the city in a series of 30-plus public hearings on what should be in its forthcoming Strategic Business Plan. Tonight is the first of five hearings in West Seattle (7-9 pm, Southwest Community Center). Lots more info here; the full list of meetings is here; if you are absolutely certain you cannot make it to any of those meetings, the Parks Department has a “short online survey” you can take here. With so much parkland here on our beautiful peninsula — and remember, we’re the biggest neighborhood in the city! — it’s vital to have West Seattle opinions, hopes, and dreams represented in the forthcoming Parks plan.
Jogger attacked in Lincoln Park
Police are looking for a man who jumped a jogger late yesterday: reports here and here. She got away OK; he unfortunately got away too and was described in the tv report as “25 to 35, about 5-7, light brown hair, possibly balding … wearing a white, oversized sweatshirt with a pattern on it, and gray sweatpants.” The attack location is described only as “a trail in the south end.”
Thursday night notes
-As of this writing, the West Seattle Bridge ramp to northbound I-5 is STILL closed because of the situation which, piecing together various accounts (see comments on post below), appears to involve public-safety/emergency workers trying to talk someone off their perch on that ramp. This has been ongoing for almost 11 hours, according to the city 911 log, which shows the incident open since units were first sent to a “rope rescue” at Columbian/12th at 10:27 this morning.
-WSB reader Venkat found an advance link to an article in this Sunday’s New York Times about “what you get for $900,000” in several real-estate markets. One is right here in “West Seattle, Washington,” where the article features an Alki condo.
-We mentioned last week that the city Parks Department is holding meetings all around the city in the next few weeks to gather thoughts about what should be in its forthcoming Strategic Business Plan. We also promised to let you know when a link was up for an online survey to be offered to people who couldn’t attend those meetings. Now it’s up — go to this page and follow the “short online survey” link.
Saturday in the park (and Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday …)
The city Parks Department is out with its full list of upcoming public meetings as part of the department’s creation of a Strategic Business Plan — and no fewer than half a dozen of those meetings will happen here in West Seattle, over the course of eight days starting November 28th. According to the Parks Department webpage about the plan and the meetings, they want to hear your answers to these questionst:
-In what areas does Parks and Recreation do well?
-In what areas does Parks need to improve?
-What are the key policy issues Parks will face in the next five years?
-What are the emerging trends that will drive how Parks does business over the next five years?
That same page has times and locations for all meetings citywide, including the ones in West Seattle: Southwest Community Center on 11/28, High Point Community Center on 11/29, Delridge Community Center on 12/1 (the only weekend meeting in WS), Hiawatha Community Center on 12/4, Camp Long and Alki Community Center on 12/5. (We’ve added them all to the WSB Events page, for handy later reference.) For those who can’t make it to any of those meetings, the Parks Department is promising an online survey will be available soon (doesn’t appear to be up yet but we’ll let you know when it is). After these meetings, the Parks Department will come up with a draft plan, take it around to another series of meetings, and finally submit the end result to the City Council in mid-March.
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